Ok, for the first time, I feel "neglected" by my fellow Roadsterians But it's all good though! I figured out most of my wiring and starting mess, bt I have one question still:
The coil has a + and a - terminal, and the wiring diagram shows a wire going from the - terminal, to the condenser's spot of the distributor....which doesn't seem to match my "available" harness connections. There is also something that looks like the distributor's condenser tha I can't find where it goes!
The coil's resistor has only one wire connected on each side....is all this making any sense? Help!!!!!!!!
Wiring for the ignition and coil is the same for both the R and U motors. I have not had a chance to pop the hood and look to see how mine is setup - hence the lack of a reply...
Oh, the condensor looking thing reduces static in the radio...
There's a spade conector on the side of the dist. Both the coil - and the condensor lead attach to it. Occasionally you'll find a car that has that the black coil - wire chopped. If you can't find that wire, make one. A piece of black (correctly) wire, 20 gauge is fine, with female spades on both ends will suffice.
Brian: I made the wire as you mentioned. However, the little "thing" that looks like a condenser, according to the diagrams, connects in one of the coil's terminals...and the diagram also shows the resistor's (the white ceramic block) wires going from harness to one end of resistor, and from resistor another small wire going to the coil!
My harness has two wire terminals connected to the resistor (one per side) already, thats why I am so confused.
I can take pics, but I don't know how to post the pics here!
Jorge,
It's weird and I'm not sure why it's done, but I've seen ignition condensors installed on the coil as well as on the Distributor. As far as I'm concerned, you only need one on the distributor because it's the only thing that has points.
Given the fact that a lot of these cars have had creative wiring done to them over the years, the only way to know you've got it wired right is to check a few things with a volt meter - it's worth having one around even if its just a cheapy.
Here's the scoop;
There are two +12v wires to the coil. The first runs directly from the ignition switch to the coil and provides full +12V to the coil. This one is hot when the ignition switch is in the "Start" position. When the switch is in the "Run" position, a second wire provides +12V to one side of the resistor. the resistor knocks that voltage down to maybe +8V. Then a wire goes from the other side of the resistor to the + side of the coil. this way, you get full voltage from the coil for a cold start but once the engine catches and you release the spring loaded ignition switch back to the run position, the coil only sees about 8 volts. That decreased voltage is enough to produce a hot spark but helps keep the coil alive longer as it would burn itself out more quickly if it had full voltage supplied to it constantly. Bottom line, you should have 2 wires going to the + side of the coil, one directly to it, one coming from the resistor. If you take both wires off the coil and turn the ignition on, only one wire should have voltage and it should be the one comming from the resistor. If you then have someone turn the key to the start position you should see the other wire (which previously had 0 volts) suddenly jump to 12V (could be 14V as the batteries usually have a bit more than 12 and the voltage will be higher when the car is running) If you see the above, you can put both wires back on the + side of the coil, you've got it right.
But it's all good though! I figured out most of my wiring and starting mess, bt I have one question still:
